Glimpses of Meshayla Rose

Shayla Rosie...you make me smile! How can a mom have 12 kids and think that they all are so different? How can you be SO unique out of 11 siblings? You do truly make me smile, you are such a happy girl! You have the ability to diffuse my anger at your mis-behavior just by the way you apologize and promise to do something for me. You are my only "born blond" out of all 12 kids. My first and only child that insisted on sleeping on your back instead of your tummy. My only child to be born in the morning (after 6 a.m.) Once again going thru the pictures to make this post I'm amazed and dismayed at how many wonderful pictures I have and how many I need to scrapbook. I WILL get there. I think it's going to be my 2009 goal :*)
I'm sure I mentioned before that I always wanted twins. (at least until #12!!) I never got them, but the closest I came to it was several of my kids haveing "twin" cousins. I could have done a whole slideshow on Meshayla and Rebecca thru the years. They are 2 days apart, Rebecca was born on Meshayla's due date and they were both born within several minutes of 7 a.m.

ALL I want for my birthday is a pair of "Chuck Taylors"....pretty please, PLEASE???!!!
She knows the right buttons to push with me, who can resist a 14 year old that "only" wants a pair of shoes?? Not me, even if I don't "think she needs them", "think they're the coolest thing ever" or can think of some other things she probably could use more! After all, I'm pretty sure that the days are numbered of when she wants to go shopping with her Mom anyway, and I got a pretzel out of the deal too! Besides can you amagine just how long she's going to tolerate me taking my camera to the mall to record a shopping trip??

Happy 14th Birthday Meshayla!!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Meshayla,
Happy birthday to you!!





I didn't get Meshayla's pictures up today...I picked grapes & Pears instead.
However it was her wish that I take her to lunch at a little place here in town that we don't get to very often "The French Cafe". We had a delightful time & delicious lunch, and did a little shopping too before we headed off to do the picking.
Hopefully tomorrow I can get her pictures scanned & up.


We actually got two more boxes of pears after this from another spot!

More from the wedding

Here's the song that they sang at Jeanne & Floyd's wedding. The words were wrote by Doug O. Floyd's brother, for them. The tune is one you will recognize from our book.
Sorry, you will have to click on the image to get it large enough to read.
Mark, Gay, Raimie, Jana & Jim sang this Acapella and it was SO beautiful!!
Thanks you 5, you did an awesome job!! (and I am so lucky to have such wonderful talent in my family!!)

And life goes on

Lynisha was following us to convention, & had just called me to ask how far ahead of her we were. As I was about to tell her the mile marker, she said, "OH! I just blew a tire!" We went back to help her out, having to unload the trunk, put on the spare, call Ryan to come bring her his car & drive hers back to town (luckily we were only about 25 mi.) Traveling interstate speed, with 3 kids in the car I was quite thankful to see the car...AND ONLY HER CAR! pulled off the edge of the road & not the potential accident it could have been! And yes, although she was talking on the phone, she has a bluetooth, so no mishap there. We didn't make it in time for Wed. meeting after all, but just thankful to all arrive safely!





Proof I really was up early enough to see a sunrise! My sister torments me to death because I have always been a night owl, NOT a morning person, and she is the opposite. For years at convention I did not get up for breakfast. My kids did not eat breakfast either, so usually I would manage to wake up enough by the time it was over and the sleeping quarters came alive with returning people to get up and get me and X number of little people ready for the day. When my older girls were old enough to wait tables & were up, I managed to convince them to bring me coffee when they came back from breakfast. (I know, I was spoiled, but really, how DID you think I survived having 12 children??!) JK! Anyway, when my sister moved back to NE and started going to the same convention as me, somehow she managed to convince me that getting up for breakfast was a GOOD thing! To top that off, there have been years we even went on a walk BEFORE breakfast! WOW! So, I am converted. I've even been known to wake HER up. The best thing about it all is that we discovered the coffee gets put on really early! So, we pull on our sweatshirts & tennies & head over to the cookhouse & grab our before breakfast cup! At our spring convention it's already light really early, but this time of year the sun doesn't start coming up till a little before six.

The unloading, cleaning, & convention put away will wait,
My after-convention treat is my favorite re-treat. I hate showers. Convention ones are a pain, a necessity at best. Nothing like soaking away the aches of the day.
Tomorrow's another day, but tonight I'm relaxing!! AAAHHHHHH!

Our happy day and the beautiful bride

I'm home, unpacked, cleaned house, repacked & off to convention.
Enjoy the pictures, I'll probably post a link to photobucket with the others later. These were a very quick pull from a huge selection!
And, we were walking up the isle to "I loved you first"...it was a little teary!
The wedding was at the park in the community building. A very nice room. We did minimal decorating here. Curtains on the front windows & fireplace besides the front flowers!

The flower girls are our grandaughters, Jessi (2) in red, Kyrie (3)in pink, my great niece Felicity (4) in blue & a little friend Rebecca (3) in green.

Floyd's brother Doug wrote the song that Mark, my sis (Gay), Niece (Raimie), Daughter (Jana) and S-I-L (Jim) sang. The elder of their meeting Mr. Harold P. married them.






Ushers in Red, Cody, Our sons Derek & Ryan, Groom's attendents, Doug & Jim.

Jeanne's girls were her sis Jana & best friend Renee.



Parents...
And yes, now you can see my dress... LOL!!

They're married!

It's been a busy week, but it ended with a beautiful wedding! The weather although warm was gorgeous, had a few very minor glitches, nothing serious, the M-O-B's dress fit, got tons of compliments, the wedding party looked smashing, the kids did great in their part, the flower girls were normal delightful 2, 3 & 2-4 yr olds, that did make it up the isle, walked around in front, sat down in their chairs, stood up, headed back down the isle...and no one cared! The singing was beautiful (Floyd's brother who is in the work wrote the song).
I had an awesome crew of helpers. Both before, during and after the wedding & reception.
The bride & groom looked beautiful/handsome & happy.
What more could we ask??
Anyway, we all survived with smiles, happy hearts & sore feet.
We didn't have to clean up tonight, we put food away & came back to the house. We'll go out to the building tomorrow & eat all the leftover food & cake (& probably enjoy it more while we're relaxed)
and we have the afternoon to clean up the building. Since it's a holiday Monday, we're not heading home till then. WOO HOO!
Thanks for all your thoughts & wishes, we had a wonderful day! We're looking forward to an extra special LARGE meeting tomorrow with other guests who stayed in town!
(& yes, of course you'll be seeing pictures :*)

I am the "Mother of the Bride..."

#4 and final excerpt from "the book". "Before "Suzie's" wedding I planned to lose 20 pounds, get into shape and find a dress that didn't shout Mother of the Bride. I intended to plan the perfect affair without breaking the bank, breaking a sweat or breaking out in hives. In my spare time, I'd do something about world peace." (In my words here, keep my house clean, my family fed and happy, my bills paid & make sure everyone was where they were suppose to be WHEN they were suppose to be).
Hmmm. Is that why this morning I feel like I had too much coffee but need some more, am very sleep deprived, and still have things that need done today? My phone rang at 6:30 this time, 7:30 home time with an apologetic voice on the other end that says she's sorry but she can't do her car-pool to get the kids to school this morning? (they leave at 7:40) I call my husband 7 time in a row because he doesn't answer, and I get the 14 yr. old who is frantically trying to get out the door because she didn't set her alarm clock this morning and her sister went off and left her, so Dad's getting ready to take HER to school the opposite direction from the younger ones who are suppose to leave now in 5 minutes. To top that all off, Dad's suppose to be leaving in a different direction for an out of town job this morning so he can get back by noon, pick up kids from school, clean the house, pack the stuff that I sent him an e-mail detail list NOT TO FORGET, and get out here for rehearsal tonight. (life in the zoo....without mom at home!)
It's all o.k. We'll all survive, Re-enforcements arrived yesterday noon to help, & two more are are on their way to be here by 9 a.m. this morning. Tomorrow night it will be over & we'll swear up and down not to do _____ or ______again......... until the next wedding.

Kyrie & Trey are running around the house at 6:30 this morning full speed ahead, not a care in the world. I need some of their energy :*)

No more blogging till we're thru here! It's time to boogie, You all have a GREAT LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!
The mother of the bride has spent much more time on the flower girl dresses than her own!

#3. Lycra is the M-O-B's best friend.
#2. Never tell a salesperson that you are looking for a mother-of-the-bride dress. If you do, they'll steer you right to the jacket-dress with sequins section.

#1. "Mother of the bride--the phrase conjures up a vision of a middle-aged woman with the kind of hairdo that doesn't move in a high wind. The mother of the bride wears a pastel jacket to hide her flabby upper arms and matching shoes with arch supports. She carries a purse big enough for her reading glasses. She asks the caterer for decaf. Nobody ever refers to the mother of the bride as "such a pretty girl." I didn't want to see myself that way, but if the arch supports fit..."

These entrys are actually going to be "backwards" in order, as I'm going to add on to this one instead of making new posts this week about this book. I realize many of my blog readers are those who are not in this stage of life. Maybe you can relate for back when you were married. Maybe this is why some of you skipped the whole wedding scene and went for eloping. But, this is my life at this time, so this is what I'm blogging about :*)

So, on with the book:




A present from my bride to be daughter. I haven't let myself indulge in the whole book yet, but enough of it that I can say this is a must read for any mother of the bride! It is absolutely hilarious. I'll be sharing some excerpts from this book over the next couple days while I'm away from home helping my BTB daughter, and my other daughter do all the last minute wedding preparations. (wedding cakes, flower girl dresses & accessories, wedding favors, flowers & decorations)
Here's what the fly leaf has to say about this book:

"When you think "mother of the bride" maybe you picture a proud, serene woman, pulling a neatly folded hanky out of her purse to discreetly blot proud tears from her welling eyes. Well, perhaps this is what you see at the final stages of Operation Wedding, but underneath that tasteful-but-not-too-flashy-and-certainly-not-white dress is a guerrilla deal maker/politico who's been to the edge of madness and has the battle scars to prove it.--

Stay tuned for Scene I.